Swing or Nothing! http://www.nathandias.com Nathan Dias Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:26:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 The Inimitable Buster Smith http://www.nathandias.com/the-inimitable-buster-smith/ http://www.nathandias.com/the-inimitable-buster-smith/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:26:13 +0000 admin http://www.swingornothing.com/blog/?p=300

Thick. That’s how I would describe the heavy-hitting sound of alto saxophone player Buster Smith. He was instrumental in developing, along with Count Basie & Lester Young, what came to be called the Texas Sax Sound. Buster’s contribution to this sound was that he used a tenor saxophone reed with his alto saxophone to achieve a louder, “fatter” sound. Lester Young, who had played with Smith and Basie on the Oklahoma City Blue Devils and the Buster Smith-Count Basie Band of Rhythm, followed suit using a heavier baritone reed with his tenor saxophone. Buster Smith definitely had plenty of practice creating a bold sound from his early music days playing medicine shows around Dallas…where he had to play loud to help attract customers.

Buster Smith was a huge influence on the Texan music scene and industry and was known for teaching, mentoring and influencing the sounds many important musicians including Charlie Parker, Charlie Christian, Aaron “T-Bone” Walker and Red Garland. Although he did plenty of session work with famous musicians such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Earl Hines, he only ever recorded one solo album, The Legendary Buster Smith in 1959. What a powerful album though!

I remember the first time I heard Buster Smith. Jesse Miner used to DJ Kansas City Riffs (and still does) as a birthday jam song and I loved that hard-hitting sax & rhythm instantly…so much so I rushed to the DJ booth to identify the artist. Alas, that single solo album was a rare one to find in the record stores so imagine my delight when I found it online finally available for download….what a score!

My favorite tracks for dancing:

  1. Kansas City Riffs
  2. E-Flat Boogie
  3. Organ Grinder’s Swing

They’re a bit lengthy in the 5-6 minute range which is why DJs often use them as birthday jam songs.

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]]> http://www.nathandias.com/another-test-post/feed/ 0 Test Posts http://www.nathandias.com/test-posts/ http://www.nathandias.com/test-posts/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:56:03 +0000 admin http://www.nathandias.com/?p=9 What do multiple posts look like?

]]> http://www.nathandias.com/test-posts/feed/ 0 Hello world! http://www.nathandias.com/hello-world/ http://www.nathandias.com/hello-world/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:13 +0000 admin http://www.nathandias.com/?p=1 Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

]]> http://www.nathandias.com/hello-world/feed/ 0 Artie Shaw – King of the Clarinet http://www.nathandias.com/artie-shaw-king-of-the-clarinet/ http://www.nathandias.com/artie-shaw-king-of-the-clarinet/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:06:34 +0000 admin http://www.swingornothing.com/blog/?p=296 Artie Shaw was an American jazz clarinetist, composer and bandleader. He started out playing the saxophone when he was 13, but by age 16 had switched to the clarinet, the instrument for which he became famous. During the 1930s he played as a session musician in New York City, and eventually put together his own big band that rivaled that of contemporary Benny Goodman in popularity. With Benny Goodman already laying claim to the title “King of Swing”, Artie Shaw became known as the “King of Clarinet”, although Shaw argued that the titles should have been reversed.

Artie Shaw was known to be a musical innovator, experimenting with unusual instrumentation, incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythms, and especially breaking away from the patterns of traditional big band dance music. Dancers wanting to express the breaks and accents in a piece of music often latch onto repeated themes and recognizable riffs and patterns. Artie Shaw tried to keep dancers on their toes by mixing up the riffs in less predictable ways…a way to challenge all but the best dancers.

Indeed, I remember that two of my early swing dance instructors, Kevin and Carla, loved performing to music by Artie Shaw as well as playing his music in classes…precisely because the unpredictability and surprise element in his music made it challenging and fun to dance to.

Artie Shaw was quite prolific, so I’m not going to list all my favorite songs, but here are two sets of music that you might like:

Mellower Tunes with a Nice Steady Beat:

  1. Begin the Beguine
  2. Stardust
  3. Moonglow
  4. Frensi
  5. Softly as a Morning Sunrise

High-Energy & Fast Lindy Tunes

  1. Traffic Jam
  2. Diga Diga Doo*
  3. Carioca*
  4. Lady Be Good*
  5. Man From Mars*
  6. Scuttlebutt
  7. All the Cats Join In

* indicates tunes that I’ve performed to at one time or another.

Here’s a great Lindy Hop routine that’s danced to a splice of All the Cats Join in and Traffic Jam.

One2Swing Jitterbugs

And a great Artie Shaw album on Amazon.com to help you jump start your collection:

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